Short Obliquely Poems

the shuttered blinds of the temple, the canopy,
the blank canvas that obliquely shrouds the fire,vvi
its shapes, its shadows, re-invent the canvas..

but do not give it a name. Do not give me a name...

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The dark sky flashes
a silvery, jagged streak.
Thunder booms along

the path of discharge.
Strong wind blows the falling rain
obliquely downward

drenching all below.
Another flash, a louder
boom; rain continues....

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Shift Change

another day slides
obliquely into dusk
clouds yawning
in a graying pall

darkness peeks
from beneath
a sulfurous moon
eyeing its fleeing prey


©1/18/2018

submitted to MIDDLE JAN STANDARD CONTEST
sponsor – Brian Stand...

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THE power of my lost mind   binds my tongue

 between paper and pen   obliquely bleeding  

i leave it there.   

   esophageal  --> the blue (my) heart 

beneath sun setting pinks drowning squamously

and the gulls within their famous white regalia

   0--oh!~  the magical patois across the 

battered waves o'er the seas!

:: 05-17-2018 ::...

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He never made retirement—
palmed sallow watch.

Years bled bloodless,
stooped obliquely
in steel mills.

Mother said
he was tired—
so tired
as he drank
last days in liquid slurs.

The mill closed
after his death—
now both rustle bones,
remember russet dreams
of molten metals
faint as old billboards
whispering what once was
but never was
in rust-washed wind....

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The orange poem 
wanted to blunt the white 
moon, obliquely,
                     
liberating the sameness 
from the hands of
twin souls.

There was no invitation 
to jump from the immoral peaks 
when the fire broke out.   

A blue thorn 
in the flesh of a pink dawn 
explores the text of broken earth.

Dust on dust 
writes a song of wings
who would not take a flight.   


Satish Verma...

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The Dawn

I have voyaged far, crossed many oceans
I have seen the unseen, the grotesque.
We are cable of, but I have also met kind
people, I never sank into the abyss of cynicism.

I have seen flowers no botanist has, but I keep
it, a secret the nameless will be hidden.

I rejoice, for I have found my modest me
obliquely I was not here nor there confused.
as semi-transparent waiters passing my table
erased me from their memories....

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How did I get to where I am
Only thru the senescence of life am I
Sensing nothing earthly at this time
My spirits instantaneous apprehension knows
Shadowed by flora, contained by earth, I lay down
Auras obstructed by man made
Satin and teak, what do they mean
Slowly rising, I sense light, aromas, and movement
Invalid dogmas in retrospect, passing obliquely
Obfuscating life as it was
More light, I run before the wind
This is future, I'm free...

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canopies flutter, 
bamboo grove sways,
fronds of coconut palms wave,
sunlight falls obliquely upon me
on the trail that winds and tapers
through a dense undergrowth, 
to a clearing yonder, I seek
my gurgling, gleeful creek!


easterly breeze sings, 
coaxes the leaves overhead 
to hum like a strange strumming
of a dozen bass guitars;
a tiny blur darts upward
and whirls behind a branch,
there it blinks down at me
--that green lizard I see!...

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With silver moss attached to cooling stone
obliquely set beyond the garden path
a dizzy spiral caught me there alone

In echoes my reflection darkly laughed
and drank the stagnant water with a grin
a gaze to the above on my behalf

while I looked down to depths I found within
composed and yet unraveling to see
a wish I cast two years ago and ten

held in my hand's reflection gingerly
for I had never truly let it go
and, truth be told, it still was holding me....

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